CPOC hardware requirements

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The CPOC system is a large package, and as a result will not run on a minimal Psion 3a/3c. It is unlikely that you will be successful in running CPOC on any system that does not have about 2Mb or more of total storage (made up of built in memory and SSD memory) if you run the full system, or about 1.5Mb if you use CPOC only as a syntax checker. The following gives more detailed guidelines on the requirements:

Storage

The storage requirements relate to those files that you need to have installed just to be able to potentially run the CPOC system at all. They will vary according to exactly which options you install. If you install the complete system, then our current estimates are as follows:

Program Files. The CPOC program files typically occupy about 200Kb of storage space. This can all be put onto flash SSD. If you want to use the ELVIS editor as well, then you should add a further 75Kb to this requirement.
Headers files. The full set of header files is over 300Kb. These can all be stored on flash SSD. The headers as supplied include comments, and by running the PACKHDR utility that is supplied with CPOC you can remove the comments and reduce this requirement by about a third. You can also reduce the requirement further by selecting only those header files that you actually use. However about 100Kb is probably the minimum practical working set for anything other than trivial use.
Libraries. The libraries will be required if you are using CPOC in anything other than simple syntax check mode. These files can be put onto a flash SSD. The size will vary according to the libraries you decide to use, 150-250Kb is typical.
Source files. These are the files that you relate to any projects that you are currently working on. As they normally change quite rapidly you want to hold these on either the internal drive, or on an external RAM SSD. The exact size will vary according to the size of your projects, but we have found that 50-100Kb is not untypical even for quite small projects, and large projects can need more space.

RunTime

The runtime requirements relate to additional memory that will be required dynamically (over and above the storage requirements) while you are actively using the CPOC system. When you close down CPOC, then these resources are released again are available for use by other programs.

System memory. When running the CPOC system, you will typically need about 200Kb of free System memory. This is made up of about 70Kb to run the CPOC front-end program, and about another 130Kb for programs that CPOC may run to carry out actions on your behalf. You can run multiple copies of the CPOC front-end, and if you do these additional copies will only use about 30Kb each.
Temporary RAM files. You also need to allow space for temporary files that are created during the compilation process. The exact size will vary according to the size of the module you are trying to compile, but we have found that typically something like 50-100Kb is required. These files can either be on the internal RAM disk or on a RAM SSD. A flash SSD is not suitable for this purpose.

Cross-Compilation versions

The cross-compilation versions of CPOC are unlikely to come up against hardware restrictions in the same way as Psion hosted variants as in these environments there is typically much more storage space available. The storage space in these cross-compilation environments is actually very similar in most respects to the Psion hosted ones except for the size of the program files which are typically 2-3 times as large.

One hardware feature that you will need if you are using one of these cross-compilation variants of CPOC is some method of transferring the program files to your Psion. Options include:

3-Link cable
Cyclone disk drive
PC SSD Drive

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